Michele Tackett of Hattiesburg spent 11 years in active addiction to opioids. She found sobriety and a new life three years ago through the medication Suboxone, one form of opioid substitution therapy known as Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT).

When we became a foster family three years ago, I was certain of at least one thing: mothers who used drugs while they were pregnant should have their babies taken away. I had never met any of these moms before but I couldn’t conceive how anyone who loved their child could expose them to drugs.